@elliottbnewcombjr - you seem like a good guy. FWIW, I went through 2 + years of health misery, all related to gastric/Esophageal problems. The drugs exacerbated the problem and I felt like I was spending more time getting lab tests and seeing various specialists than living my life. (I'm just shy of 70). I finally opted for corrective surgery, which enabled me to get off some of the meds and largely eliminated a lot of the acid blow-back up my throat. The procedure itself was the least of it-- I'd say the biggest humps were all the testing and some serious consideration of alternatives. I'm not an MD but can get the gist from medical monographs, white papers, studies, etc. The research, and finding the right medical people who could speak directly to the issues rather than just follow the script, was also not so easy- I went through quite a few doctors. One of the best was a nurse practitioner who monitored her own set of my test results along side what the MDs were doing. She was extremely helpful in explaining what was going on.
I don't know if they can do any of this laparoscopically--my surgery was minimally invasive, almost no pain afterwards and I'm back on track- going to the gym, regained my mobility and feel like I'm good for another decade or two.
Break a leg or whatever they say in med world for best of luck.
Bill
